User:Arcayne/The Dark Knight Knuckle-Up

Review transcript
The transcript of Dean Richards review of The Dark Knight, as emailed to me by the reviewer himself:

Dean Richards, film critic at WGN-TV news (bio here):
 * "It's not only the year's best film but it’s one of the best films in years, period.
 * If anyone has something bad to say about "The dark Knight", I'd like to know what more they could want from a film.
 * It's an elegantly written story that balances the lore of the Caped Crusader with plenty of tongue-in-cheek fun and deeply, thoughtful sub-plots about good and evil; about the real meaning of hero worship and the psychology of a terrorist attack on Gotham City by a psychotic killer who sees the Batman, as much of a freak as himself.
 * Add in stunning action sequences; from the very first scene in a bank heist like you've never seen before to roller coaster ride chases through the city to crashes and explosions on familiar downtown Chicago streets to vertigo-inducing shots off of the tops of the world's tallest buildings; director Christopher Nolan held nothing back and much of it, without the use of special effects. This is why you need to see this film on the big IMAX screen.
 * And then, there are the performances. "The Dark Knight" is more an ensemble piece, where nearly all of the characters have important stories to tell. Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman are all great. Maggie Gyllenhall's main job as the love interest, is that she's NOT Katie Holmes from "Batman Begins", so that's a big plus.
 * But the two major performances here are from Batman himself, Christian Bale, committed, intense, dark and conflicted about his destiny and of course, the amazing, Heath Ledger. Even Bale says that he steals the movie.
 * With all respect to Jack Nicholson, Ledger takes the maniacal nature of The Joker to a new level. Every nuance of his look, his mannerisms and his creepy voice, adds layer upon layer to his twisted complexity that will comprise one of the great criminal roles of all time; all that completely makes you forget about the tragedy of Ledger's death yet, reminds you of what a genius actor we've lost. I can't imagine there will be a better performance by an actor this year or for a long time to come. His brilliant performance, not his death, will earn him an Oscar.
 * Finally, Chicago has never looked better, nor has a city been used more effectively, as the background color on this incredible canvas Chris Nolan called "The Dark Knight."
 * It's not just a stunning super hero movie; it's a stunning film, period.
 * A complete masterpiece. A rare, Dean's List "A+."

Plot clean-up
The film opens with a brazen, clever robbery of a bank by clown-mask wearing thieves, who within minutes whittle down their own number until only the Joker, who had planned the double-cross, remains. He escapes with the entire amount stolen from the bank, which served as a money-laundering front for Gotham's gangs

Across town, multiple Batmen (normal civilians armed with automatic weapons and homemade Batsuits, emulating the real Batman) interrupt a meeting of mobsters gone wrong. Batman himself arrives and subdues all the criminals, Batmen, and Scarecrow (in a short appearance by Cillian Murphy in a reprise of his role from the first film). Injured in that confrontation, Batman decides to create a new, more functional suit of armor than his heavy and less mobile one.

The mob leaders meet to discuss how Batman, Lieutenant James Gordon, and new district attorney Harvey Dent are starting to have some success in their attempts inhampering their various criminal enterprises. A foreign mobster lets the mob leaders know he's taken their money to Hong Kong to prevent the police and the district attorney from seizing it in an imminent five bank raid.

The Joker arrives unannounced at the meeting and offers his services to kill Batman for "half" of all the money that was taken away from Gotham. Eventually, realizing that Batman has retrieved the Chinese mobster from Hong Kong and that police have struck a deal with to testify against them, they relent, finally hiring the Joker to kill the Batman. Dent has over five hundred of them arrested in one day due to the Hong Kong mobster's confession. Joker tells all of Gotham that if the Batman doesn't unmask and turn himself in he will kill innocent people every day. As a result of the Batman not turning himself in, the first major victims are the judge presiding over Dent's indictments and the police commissioner.

The Joker's attempt to kill Dent at a Wayne fund raiser fails. Lieutenant James Gordon, however, is killed saving the mayor of Gotham by the Joker himself at a memorial for the murdered judge. As a result of this, Batman tells Dent to call a press conference so can reveal his identity and stop the killings. In a surprise move, Dent instead claims to be the Batman himself and is subsequently arrested. While being transported the Joker and his gang attack the caravan of police vehicles to kill Dent, but Batman arrives and stops the assault, but stays his hand at killing the Joker. The Joker prepares to kill Batman but Gordon - revealed to have faked his death - steps out and pistol-whips the Joker unconscious, and is promoted to Commissioner by the mayor. With the Joker in custody Gordon and Batman interrogate the Joker when he reveals that he and the mob have taken Rachel and Dent to opposite sides of the city and one will die. Batman beats the location of the two from the Joker and speeds off to save Rachel while Gordon and the police are off to save Dent.

Dent and Rachel each awaken, tied to chairs with barrels of explosive material surrounding them and a speaker phone hooked up to the other's location. Rachel confesses her love for him and agrees to marry him. Batman arrives and rescues Dent as the building explodes and Harvey's face is badly burned, while Gordon is unable to rescue Rachel before the explosion. In the hospital Harvey is driven to madness over the loss of Rachel, and blames Batman, Gordon and the Joker.

When one of Wayne Corps employees threatens to go public on the news with information about Batman's identity, he is interrupted by the Joker who states that if someone doesn't kill the employee in sixty minutes he will blow up a hospital. While the new commissioner is evacuating the hospitals, the Joker, poorly disguised as a nurse, enters the hospital room of Harvey Dent. Blaming the mob and Gordon's corrupt cops for the kidnapping and murder of Rachel, he convinces Harvey to exact his revenge upon them. After Dent leaves, Joker detonates the Gotham General Hospital, skipping merrily away.

While Harvey confronts one of the corrupt cops, the Joker declares that he will rule the streets and that anyone left in Gotham will be subject to his rule. He tells people they can leave now but that he'll have a surprise for them in the tunnel and on the bridge, which people then avoid, using instead two ferries, one ship full of criminals and one of ordinary civilians. However, the Joker has loaded each of them with explosives. In hopes of showing everyone how evil and corrupt they can be he gives the passengers of one ship the detonator to the bombs to the other. If they don't choose by midnight, the Joker will blow up both ships. The civilians vote to blow up the other ferry, but cannot bring themselves to actually do so, while one of the criminals steps forward and, taking the detonator, throws it out a porthole saying that the cops should have done that from the start.

Batman discovers not only the Joker's location at an unfinished skyscraper, but that the majority of his "gang" are hostages wearing clown-masks with unloaded guns taped to their hands and that the people dressed at hostages are the actual criminals. Batman is forced to fight not only the Joker's men but the SWAT teams as well to save the hostages. He finally confronts the Joker, preventing him from blowing up the two ferries and then saving him from falling to his death. The Joker acknowledges that Batman really is indeed incorruptible but that Dent is not; he's unleashed the scarred man on the city.

Batman finds Gordon and his family with Dent at the burned-out husk of the building where Rachel died, where Dent threatens to kill Gordon's family to pay for the death of Rachel. Batman claims responsibility and Dent shoots him. Preparing to kill Gordon's son, an uninjured Batman knocks him over the side of the building where Harvey falls to his death. Batman saves Gordon's' son, but ends up falling as well but is lands relatively unharmed. He and Gordon decide that the Joker really wins if anyone find out about Dent's corruption and madness. To prevent the further decline of Gotham City, Gordon and Batman agree that the Batman will no longer be an instrument of the Gotham Police Department, returning to a status as an illegal vigilante. The movie closes with the memorial of Dent and the Batman evading the police.